ONTARIO, CALIF.—Gato Roman survived three first-round knockdowns and staged a tremendous rally to win a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Luis Solis in a brutal fight on Friday and Sindy Amador retained the IFBA junior flyweight female world title by split decision against Maria Suarez (8-1-1).

Roman (17-1-1, 12 Kos) was caught three times with right uppercuts and sent to the floor each time by Solis (12-3-4, 10 Kos), who had a knack for delivering that punch every time Roman knelt low. But Roman beat the count each time and by the end of the second round showed determination and perseverance in Thompson Boxing Promotions’ 14th anniversary show.

By the third round Garden Grove’s Roman was red from the blows and it looked like he suffered a broken nose. Blood was everywhere and Roman’s face was as red as the blood. Solis took some shots but never seemed actually hurt.

Roman began using a stiff jab and wide leaping left hooks to score midway through the fight. But Solis weathered through every Roman rally and powered through to land his own blows. After eight rounds Solis’s face barely showed signs of damage and his chin was outstanding. The body shots by Roman seemed to affect the Mexican fighter but not too seriously.

The crowd was going crazy from the back and forth action. Most were amazed that Roman was still in the fight after the disastrous first round. But he seemed to will himself forward and his trainer Joel Diaz kept screaming at him to push his way forward.

Toward the end of the fight Roman’s blows began to take effect on Solis. who held some and moved away.

After the first round there were no more knockdowns but the blows landed were tremendous.

Two judges scored it 94-93 twice and 95-92 all for Roman, who wins the WBC Cabofe lightweight title.

Female World Title fight.

Amador (12-1), who’s the first boxer from Riverside to win a world title, was able to apply pressure for 10 rounds and convince two of three judges at the Doubletree Hotel that she was the winner. It was a very close fight with no knockdowns but plenty of action.

“I don’t know what it is but I just go a little crazy when I fight at this place,” said Amador, who was making her first world title defense after winning the title last October. “I was a little wild.”

The smaller Amador attacked like a pit bull against the much taller Suarez, who hails from Santa Maria, Calif. After a few rounds Suarez began to use her longer reach to her advantage by shooting out long jabs and uppercuts from a distance against the always attacking Riverside prizefighter.

“I knew coming into the fight she would come straight forward at me,” said Suarez. “I use whatever works and I use it again if it keeps working.”

For much of the fight both fought extremely closely and there was a lot of holding and hitting. When they would separate Amador seemed to be able to connect at the closer range. But when they fought at a distance it appeared to favor Suarez with her longer reach.

One judge scored it 96-94 for Suarez and another had it 96-94 for Amador. A third judge saw it 97-93 for Amador.

“I’m just so grateful to be the champion,” said Amador. “I want to fight better and better for the fans.”

Suarez suffered her first defeat as a pro but was very calm about the loss.

“I’m defeated but not beaten,” Suarez said.

Other bouts

San Pedro’s Isaac Zarate (7-1-1) counter-punched his way against the very aggressive Juan Reyes (10-1-3) of Riverside to fight to a majority draw for the WBC Cabofe junior featherweight title after eight rounds. Reyes was cut badly in the seventh round but surged forward despite not being able to see through the blood covering his eye. The crowd went wild at his gutsy performance.

Colombian transplant Cesar Villaraga (3-0, 2 Kos) scored a technical knockout at 2:20 of round four of a lightweight match against Wilbert Lopez (3-3) of Arizona. Villaraga, who trains in Santa Fe Springs, was too strong and accurate against the southpaw.

San Francisco’s LaRon Mitchell (4-0, 4 Kos) needed only two counter lefts to end the night for Derrick Williams (0-3) in a heavyweight clash. Mitchell, a southpaw, used a counter left on the charging Williams to floor Mitchell. He beat the count and resumed charging and ran into another counter left and was decked hard. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. ended the fight at 55 seconds of round one.

Arizona’s Cesar Valenzuela (6-3) scored a weird knockdown in the second round against Mario Amador (5-1), who looked like he was tripped. Later Valenzuela was hit behind the head, and that resulted in a point being taken away from the Texas boxer. Two judges scored it 78-74 for Valenzuela and a third saw it 76-76 for a win by majority decision for Valenzuela.